Press Views, Exhibitions and Tartan Underwear. Part 2

Anyway back on with what was actually in the exhibition!They had a few wonderful annotated illustrations of the changing silhouettes for both men and women. They were the kind of thing which would have been perfect for my history files at college (and yes 7 years on I still think of things in terms of how useful they would be at college).

The staging of the exhibition was really wonderful. It’s being held at The Queen’s Gallery at Holyrood house opposite the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh (another perfect excuse for me to head to Edinburgh for the day). I’ve never been there before and it is pretty awesome. The outside architecture is one of the perfect examples of gorgeous stonework in Edinburgh and the interior is pretty amazing too. When you walk in you’re greeted with an awesome sweeping staircase diverging in two directions at the top. It has wooden floors a gold gallery handrail thing looking over the stairs and kind of feels like it would be a brilliant place for very posh and very rich parties. It took me about 20 minutes to realise that there was a kind of system in place, where the earlier pieces started at the top of the right hand stairs and went round the room with the later pieces finishing at the start of the left hand stairs. (A very sensible arrangement if you actually paid attention when walking in – but the whole terrified of being judged thing kind of makes sensible thought a bit difficult!)

Anyway the whole layout kind of sweeps you round through the centuries, with the aforementioned annotated illustrations helping to mark your movements.

Ok this is end of part two! I’ll finish off with my favourite (but kind of the worst) part of the exhibition. You’ll have to tune in to see what I mean!